After voting for independence in the referendum held on Oct. 1st, 2017, the people of Catalonia were punished by the Spanish government for voting the wrong way. State violence leveled at them in the run up to and during the vote did not dissuade the people. And apparently having their regional government fired en masse by the Spanish government and arrest warrants issued for their leader (who is now in hiding in some other country) didn’t dissuade them either.

Yesterday Spain imposed a new round of snap elections on the people of Catalonia so they could elect a new government that supported remaining with Spain. Didn’t work out that way. The pro-separatist parties won 70 of 135 seats giving them an absolute majority and the ability to run the government.

So now it looks like Spain will fire all of them if they don’t agree to play ball and hold another snap election and keep doing it until they get what they want or Catalonia runs out of citizens to run for office.

Back in June of this year, the regional Government of Catalonia set a referendum on Catalan independence to be held today. The issue has been one they have been considering for a number of years but it’s come to a boiling point over the past few months due to socioeconomic issues that have caused great tension in Spain as of late. It’s part of a larger “constitutional crisis” that faces the entire nation this year. The independence movement has been a thing in Catalonia for decades but it really kicked off in 2008 with the Spanish debt crisis… inflicted on the people of Spain by the masters of the universe when they demoed ours and everyone else’s economies to serve their interests.

Needless too say, the government of Spain has declared today’s referendum to be illegal, saying it goes against Spain’s constitution. When you take a look at the demographics, you start to understand why they feel that way.

Sunday’s referendum does not cover the entire Catalan Countries. It is confined only to Catalonia, an area in northeastern Spain, which has a population of 7.5 million people. The area accounts for 15 percent of Spain’s population and 20 percent of its economic output. al Jazeera

Barcelona is the symbolic and perhaps future capital of Catalonia with a population of about 1.5 million people and is itself a major economic hub and tourist destination.

The question of independence isn’t so much about EU membership as it is Catalonia leadership feeling like they aren’t getting a solid return on the taxes being leeched out of their region from the Spanish government. Of course, austerity and weaponized refugee issues probably factor in as well, but it’s hard too find specific grievances of the Catalan separatists on the neoliberalised web I have available to me.

Spain says they will force Catalonia out of the EU if the referendum yelds a “yes” vote but that’s not a foregone conclusion.

The way the vote works is like this: if a simple majority of the people decide they want out of Spain and to form their own nation, the government of Catalonia has two days to make it happen.

Many are comparing this independence referendum to the Brexit vote but that one was directly tied to EU membership whereas this one is not, and that one had all sorts of loopholes built into the plan and it’s now being betrayed even more by Theresa May, just like I wrote it would be.

In the Catalonia vote… when you vote for “out”… you get out. Immediately.

The leaders of the EU nations are not supporting the referendum, many saying they support the constitution of Spain, which means they don’t support and probably wont recognize the results were Catalans to decided on independence. Trump does not support it either.

I cannot claim to have a deep understanding of the Catalonia independence movement or this referendum as I have not covered it as of yet on this blog. But I can say, judging by the company they keep, I would tend to support the right to self determination of the Catalans.

Also factoring into my decision is my growing understanding of the reaction of the Spanish government.

When the government of Catalonia set the referendum date, the government of Spain began something called Operation Anubis in an effort to cut the heads off the referendum operation by raiding their homes and dragging them off to jail. They’ve been spying on and disappearing independence movement leaders for months now and even raided locations where ballots were being stored and made off with them hoping to derail the referendum in that way.

All of this repression has had the opposite effect. Millions have turned out in protest of the Spanish government’s fascist tactics over the past few months with a massive demonstration taking place a week ago in which an estimated 1 million Catalans gathered to show support for their government and their right to self determination.

Of course, very little attention has been paid to that growing movement by the complicit media over here who seem to want to focus on millionaires playing a child’s game taking a knee or not on Sunday.

Today the Anubis campaign has been unleashed. Thousands of police and Federal Police from all around Spain have descended on the people of Catalonia to beat them into submission. Quite literally. That’s not hyperbole.